Portable lighting unit for clip boards or the like



PORTABLE LIGHTING UNIT FOR CLIP BOARDS OR THE LIKE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed June 22, 1959 ATTORNEYS July 24, 1962 F. F. CATELLI ET Al.

PORTABLE LIGHTING UNIT FOR CLIP BOARDS OR THE LIKE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed June 22, 1959 INVENTORS ATTORNEYS 3,046,389 PQRTABLE LIGHTHNG UNITFOR CLIP BQARDS R Til-IE LiKE Frank F. Catelli, 3000 Mission Road, andDerrell G. Quigel, 2425 W. Harding Way, both of Stockton, Calif. FiledJune 22, 1959, Ser. No. 821,949 1 Claim. (Cl. 240-1065) The presentinvention is directed to, and it is a major object to provide, a small,portable, compact, flashlightbattery energized, lighting unit; theprimary purpose of such unit being to afford artificial illumination toa person, such as a police officer, who must at night do writing orreading on a clip board or other similar fiat and relatively thinmember.

Another important object of this invention is to provide a portablelighting unit, as above, which is adapted for ready spring-clampingengagement on a marginal portion of the clip board; the unit then beingeffectively and rigidly supported from said clip board in a position toilluminate the top thereof, and including any writing pad or readingmaterial thereon.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a portable lightingunit, as in the preceding paragraph, which includes a body or housingwhich forms a convenient hand grip, and by means of which both said unitand the clampingly engaged clip board may be supported by one hand ofthe user, leaving the other hand free for writing on the pad on saidclip board.

A further object of the invention is to provide a portable lighting unitwhichwhen detachedcan also be used for general, though short range,illumination much in the same manner as a hand type flashlight.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a portable lightingunit which is designed for ease and economy of manufacture; beingrelatively simple in structure and of light weight.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a practical,reliable, and durable portable lighting unit for clip boards or thelike, and one which will be exceedingly efiective for the purpose forwhich it is designed.

These objects are accomplished by means of such structure and relativearrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the followingspecifications and claim.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the portable lighting unit as engagedwith a clip board.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the portable lighting unit, detached; the viewbeing partly broken away and partly in section.

FIG. 3 is an end elevation of the portable lighting unit as clampinglyengaged on a clip board, as in FIG. 1; the view-in dotted lines-showingthe lower end plate as partially removed.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary cross section taken on line 44 of FIG. 2.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, and to the charactersof reference marked thereon, the novel, portable lighting unit comprisesan elongated sheet metal housing or body, indicated generally at 1; suchbody including a flat top 2, a fiat bottom 2a in spaced parallelrelation to such top 2, and-in integral relationa semicircular outerside or back wall 3.

Additionally, the body 1 includesin matching relation-an upper end plate4 and a lower end plate 5; said body 1 being fully open along its inneror front side for the purpose as will hereinafter appear.

The upper end plate 4 is retained in place by means including laterallyinwardly extending ears 6 and 7 secured to the top 2 and bottom 2a byscrews 8 and 9, respectively.

The lower end plate 5 is removably maintained in place by ears 1t) and11 inturned from the top 2 and bottom 2a, respectively, and by a tongue12 centered at the rear of end plate 5 and projecting through a slot 13in an adjacent portion of the outer side wall 3.

The inner edge of top 2 is slightly down-turned to form a lip 14, andthe adjacent corner of the end plate 5 is correspondingly chamfered, asat 15, whereby the lip 14 normally holds said end plate 5 againstdisplacement.

A full length, downwardly and laterally inclined flange or skirt 16 isformed integral with the inner edge of the bottom 20. In turn, suchinclined flange merges with a full length, laterally inwardly extendingapron 17; such apron being in a plane parallel to but below the bottom2a.

An elongated, hinged, spring-urged strip or clamping bar 18 is disposedaboveand cooperates withthe apron 17 for substantially full lengththereof. The clamping bar 13 is hinged at its rear edge in connectionwith the apron 17 in the manner shown in part at 19, and which hingingmeans includes a full length hinge pin 20. A helical torque spring 21surrounds a portion of the hinge pin 29 and at one end bears against theclamping bar 18 to normally and forcefully urge the latter toward thevapron 17. As shown, the clamping bar 18 has considerably less projectionthan said apron 17.

A longitudinal reflector 22, substantially semi-circular in transversesection, is disposed in the body 1 intermediate the outer side wall 3and the open inner side of such body; said reflector whose concave faceis toward said open sideextending full length between the end plates 4and 5. The reflector 22 is secured in the body 1 by suitable means, suchas soldering or brazing, as at 23.

A socket 24 is mounted on the inside face of end plate 4 between thereflector 22 and the open side of the body 1; such socket carrying anelectric globe 25 of flashlight type.

The socket 24 includes terminals 26 and 27; the latter being connectedto ground, as at 28', by a wire 29. The terminal 26 is connected by aWire 30 to one terminal 31 of a switch 32 mounted on the under side ofthe top 2 by screws 33; such wire 30 passing through an opening in thereflector 22, as shown in FIG. 4.

The switch includes a slidable switch button 34 which projectsupward1yfor external access-through a slot 35 in said top 2. As isevident, the switch 32 is mounted in the longitudinal compartment 36formed in the body 1 between the outer side wall 3 and reflector 22;such compartment 36 also including therein the following arrangement:

A semi-circular, laterally extending supporting finger 37 is fixed inconnection with the end plate 4 and extends lengthwise into thecompartment 36 in matching engagement with the inside face of thesidewall 3. The supporting finger 37 is of a length to extend inwardlyto a point beyond the switch 32, and at its inner end such finger 37 isfixed to, and supports, a transverse backing disc 38 for a relativelyshort compression spring 39 to the opposite end of which is afiixed atransverse dielectric disc 40; said disc forming a transverse partitionin the compartment.

A flexible wire 41 is connected at one end to the remaining terminal 42of switch 32, and thence said wire extends through a central opening 43in backing disc 38, passes through the compression spring 39, andconnects to a center contact 44 on the dielectric disc 40.

A pair of end-to-end flashlight-type batteries 45 are disposed in thelongitudinal compartment 36 between the center contact 44 and the endplate 5; such batteries being disposed so that the adjacent one thereofgrounds with said end plate 5, while the center post 46 of the otherbattery bears against said contact 44-.

The foregoing arrangement provides a battery-energized,switch-controlled circuit for the electric globe 25; the latter beingturned on or off by appropriate manipulation of the slidable switchbutton 34.

In use of the above described portable lighting unit it is engaged, inthe manner shown in FIG. 1, with one marginal portion of a clip board47; said marginal portion being clamped between the apron 17 and theclamping bar 18. With the portable lighting unit so attached to the clipboard 47 the entire assembly can be manually supported by one handgrasping the body 1, leaving the other hand free for writing on a pad 48secured on the clip board 47 by its usual spring clip 49.

When the electric globe 25 is energized, direct light therefrom, as wellas that cast by the reflector 22, effectively illuminates the writingpad 48 or the like on the clip board 47. Such illumination also makespossible the reading, with ease, of any printed material which may becarried on said clip board 47.

It is to be observed that by the inclusion of the downwardly andlaterally inclined flange 16, the electric globe 25 and reflector 22 aredisposed in a plane somewhat above the clip board 47, which enhances theilluminating effect.

When the batteries 45 are exhausted they can be readily replaced bymerely sliding the lower end plate 5 in a direction away from the sidewall 3 in the manner shown in dotted lines in FIG. 3, and at which timethe adjacent part of the lip 14 and corresponding portion of the top 2are sprung slightly upwardly. The lower end plate 5 is so slid until theadjacent end of the longitudinal compartment 36 is open. Thereupon, theexhausted batteries 45 can be removed and fresh batteries replaced; thisbeing followed by return sliding of the lower end plate 5 to its normalclosed position.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that there hasbeen produced such a device as will substantially fulfill the objects ofthe invention, as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferredconstruction of the device, still in practice such deviations from suchdetail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit ofthe invention, as defined by the appended claim.

Having thus described the invention, the following is claimed as new anduseful, and upon which Letters Patent are desired:

A portable lighting unit for attachment to a marginal portion of a rigidboard, said unit comprising an elongated body open along the front side,said body including a top wall, a bottom wall, a back wall, and endplates one only of which is rigid with the top and bottom walls, areflector in the body spaced from the back wall and secured to the topand bottom walls and extending the full distance between the end plates,an electric light globe mounted on the body in front of the reflector,the space between the reflector and back wall providing a compartmentfor the reception of a battery, means mounting the other end plate onthe body for forward and backward sliding movement to open thecorresponding end of the compartment and comprising ears on the top andbottom walls overlapping said other end plate, the latter being disposedbetween the walls of the body with its peripheral edge in engagementwith the inner surface of said walls, a tongue on such end plate at theback slidably projecting through a slot in the back wall of the body,and a downward sloping lip on the top wall at the front, the upper edgeof said other end plate being cut to match the slope of the lip; the topwall of the body and the reflector being of resilient material wherebythe lip yieldably retains said end plate against forward slidingmovement.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS493,835 Peacock Mar. 21, 1893 1,289,274 Rothenberg Dec. 31, 19181,946,866 Machold Feb. 13, 1934 1,985,335 Bloss Dec. 25, 1934 2,167,109Goldin July 25, 1939 2,366,202 Lippincott Jan. 2, 1945 2,395,760 QuanFeb. 26, 1946 2,472,582 Green June 7, 1949 2,621,282 Novak Dec. 9, 19522,685,638 Littrell Aug. 3, 1954 2,749,430 Conn June 5, 1956 2,806,715Smith Sept. 17, 1957

